Day 15 - Friday 11th August

This morning, I slept in until 9am because I was exhausted after the late night at the basketball. I could have easily slept longer.

Image how tired Nicky would have been if she'd gone there - she's almost nine months pregnant whereas I 'm just old and trying to acclimatise to a different time zone.

At about 10am, we set off for a walk to the other shopping centre in East Finchley which is about 1km away. This set of shops has a butcher that Nicky prefers - the plan was to have a barbecue for dinner tonight.

On the way, we passed by the street where Nicky and John had planned to buy a house a few months ago in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Nicky makes a point of walking regularly. She found this helped before Amelia was born. Along the way, she felt tightening in her tummy which apparently could mean that the baby is coming soon.

It was another beautiful warm sunny summer day with hardly a cloud in the sky.

Next we went back to the other East Finchley shops that are just around the corner from Nicky and John's house because we wanted to go to Nicky's favourite shop for fruit and vegetables.

We stopped at a cafe for coffee and babyccino (a pretend coffee for kids consisting of steamed milk and froth with cinnamon on top).

Suzy wanted to get some brandy and some dry ginger ale. I found a bottle of French brandy at the Icelands supermarket for only GBP12 and some ginger ale nearby at Budgens supermarket.

Amelia had a sleep after lunch for about an hour and was due to go to Clowns Nursery at 2pm. Suzy and I came too so we could find out where it is and so we could meet the staff so they would recognise us when we came with Amelia after Nicky has the baby.

Nicky dropped Suzy at Golders Green railway station so she could go shopping in Oxford Street. Nicky and I went home and then Nicky went to out for a few hours.

Later in the afternoon, I went for a walk to Alexandra Park which is about 1km away in a suburb called Muswell Hill. It is a big park with tree-lined paths, gardens and grassed areas - very pleasant and relaxing.

At the end of the park, I found a building called Palm Court. There was a lot of activity there - security people, fences, queues, buses and lots of people wearing orange outfits.

I asked one of the attendants about the building. She said the building is normally used for various events and during the Olympics it has been taken over by the Dutch as their place to watch Olympic events and participate in activities.

The building is in a prominent location on a hill looking over London suburbs in the medium to long distance with parks and gardens in the foreground.

Nearby there was an area labelled as Alexandra Palace but all I could find was a garden nursery business. I expect there would have been a lot more through other entrances.

On the way back, I walked along a pleasant bushland path called Parkland Walk on the other side of the road which gave yet more distant views over London suburbs.

When I got home just after 6pm, Nicky was out picking up Amelia from Clowns. Suzy got home from Oxford Street about 10 minutes later after tackling big crowds of tourists in Oxford Street and on the trains.

Five minutes later, John got home from work after celebrations from announcing their half-yearly results. Another five minutes later, Nicky and Amelia arrived home.

By this time, I had the barbecue going because Nicky wanted to have dinner at 7pm so Amelia could get to bed at her normal time. John pulled out a couple of bottles of Italian red wine from his wine cabinet in the kitchen.

After dinner, we settled down to watch the Olympics on TV.